# Best way to keep humidity up? Can you have too much humidification?



## loki993 (Sep 25, 2010)

Ok, so I'm starting to develop a modest stash and I'm increasingly worried about my humidity levels. It was holding Ok at around 68 percent and everything seemed to be fine. I just recharged also. So I check the humi today and the humidity had dropped almost 10 percent. So probably to around 58. So I'm recharging it now, but still I don't see how it dropped. Maybe I had the humidification devices in different place and was getting false readings, who knows. everything was fine before that so its not a big deal. 

The real question is I now want to make sure I have good humidification as I don't want my collection to get ruined. 

Right now I'm using a Humi pillow, a montecristo 70% humistick, one of those humidification tubes with a sponge in it and the standard sponge thing that came with with the humidor. 

Does that seem like too much? Can you have too much?

So what would be the best thing to get my humidity to 65 or better and keep it there?

I hear a lot about beads, but sometimes they take humidity out don't they? Are they good to add humidity?

My friend uses that jar of gel. 

Whats the best way to add humidity?

I did the calculator and it seems my humis only 510 ci. It was given to me so I'm not sure of the count.


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## socalocmatt (Dec 22, 2010)

To address your main question regarding what to use for a 500ish ci humidor: Beads. Yes, they do take away huminity. They also add humidity. You dont want to always be adding humidity. You want to keep a constant level as much as possible. So, if your humidity was 78% and you added 70% beads, then they would "suck up" humidity until they were either completely saturated or your humidity level was at 70%. Same thing if your humidity was at 60% and you had 70% humidity beads. Humidity would be release until the rh was at 70%.

My biggest concern would be "Why did the humidity drop so much"? Is your hygrometer calibrated and in good working order? Do you have a good seal on the humidor? Is this a new humidor or have you had it for some time?

These are questions that you may want to look into. If your humidor does not have a good seal then you will find yourself banging your head against a wall because your humidity will keep dropping. If your hygrometer is out of whack then your humidity levels may be just fine but you are getting a bad reading.


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## socalocmatt (Dec 22, 2010)

Oh, and yes, you can have too much humidity. Keeping your cigars in a bucket of water is too much humidity :mrgreen:. In all seriousness though, the general consensus is that you want to keep RH around 65% to 68%.


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## loki993 (Sep 25, 2010)

My dad gave me the humidor. I've been using it about 3 months now and this is the first time its dropped like that. Its normally steady at 66 or so. So I think it was just a fluke. It was also downstairs instead of my room. I'm keeping an eye on it ill check it tomorrow. 

Don't know about the hydrometers. I checked them and they're both off. I think my digitals 15 high and the analog is 10 low. I should check them again because I lost the paper I had that written on and I don't remember for sure.


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## socalocmatt (Dec 22, 2010)

Yea, I would double check at least the digital. If you can calibrate it, go for it. If not, you might want to splurge for a new one. Most analogs can be calibrated. Personally, I never mess around with the analog hygrometers. I just leave them in place for looks and rely on the digitals.

That's kinda odd about the change. Maybe it was left open on accident and then closed prior to you seeing it. IDK. You may want to check the seal on it just to be sure.


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## loki993 (Sep 25, 2010)

I think I will. th analog isn't adjustable its juts one of those cheap ones that come with the humidors. 

I may spring for one of those adjustable ones when I get the beads.


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## Tman (Sep 12, 2010)

I'm guessing your room is warmer than downstairs? If that's the case, your RH% is lower in your room than downstairs. Any time you heat up an air without adding moisture, your RH% will go down. This is why it feels dry in the winter months.

In any case, it sounds like you don't have enough humidification device. Gel jars holds lots of water for its size. It may tide you over in the dry months if you want to keep using this humidor. Is your humidor like 7" x 12" x 6"? That would be equivalent of 100 count humidor.

If you are going with the gel, try adding at least two 2 oz. gel in there and see if it hold RH%. Consider switch to using KL or beads in the summer when RH% increases in your room.


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## Herf N Turf (Dec 31, 2008)

Ryan,

There are twelve roads to Rome. Choose and travel only one.

You're trying too hard to part this project together, perhaps "on the cheap". Stop it, man.

Settle on one humidification media, such as 65% Heartfelt Beads (my personal media of choice). Then, get a CALIBRATABLE, good quality hyGrometer, just to ensure that your environment is what it should be.

Once you gain confidence in the beads, you can freely dispense with the hygrometer, and simply rely on the beads.

You have one of two problems:

1) That humidor is leaking and it's only shown up since the weather has turned dry and cold.

2) Your hygrometer is a piece of crap and should be sitting at the bottom of your fish tank.

Get beads.


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## deionychus (Aug 18, 2010)

In Colorado, it is dry almost all the time. In the summer months, my shilala beads do fine holding the RH, but in winter with heat going, I have to supplement (we even have a humidifier on the furnace, not that you can tell). I use a petri style dish with distilled water and a sponge or some cotton balls in there (more surface area for moisture to escape the dish). 

Sounds like you might have had some drying but you caught it quickly, so kudos for that! I wouldn't worry too much about a big shift over a few hours, but there are lots of good suggestions on how to add moisture. Like posted already, 65% is probably the sweet spot, and it's easy to fine tune. 58% isn't cause for panic, just keep an eye on it and be willing to adjust.


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## BadMrFrosty (Dec 29, 2010)

I don't mean to hi-jack your thread loki, but I figured if I made a thread about my question, it would be a waste of bandwidth. I apologize in advance. 

What about if your humi is holding on to too much humidity? I just got my humidor recently. Followed all the necessary steps to seasoning it. Bought a nice digital hygro and that jar full of the gel crystals.

My readings on both hygro's are a consistent 77% (I calibrated them both together using the salt test). I know thats way high. 

So my question would be, what do I do to bring it back down? Do I remove the humidifiers (it brought 2) and just stick with the crystals? Do I air the sucker out for a few days until it dries a little?


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## socalocmatt (Dec 22, 2010)

Probably too much depending on the size of your box... and you're in Florida. What size do you have? The beads are a two-way humidification method what will pull humidity down if it is too high and add humidity if it is too low. Get the beads, they're cheap and well worth it. Then you can toss the gel and sticks. If you dont want to get the beads: Are you using a PG solutions or just distilled water?


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## Tman (Sep 12, 2010)

BadMrFrosty said:


> I don't mean to hi-jack your thread loki, but I figured if I made a thread about my question, it would be a waste of bandwidth. I apologize in advance.
> 
> What about if your humi is holding on to too much humidity? I just got my humidor recently. Followed all the necessary steps to seasoning it. Bought a nice digital hygro and that jar full of the gel crystals.
> 
> ...


Must be nice living in a warm humid climate. Get the beads or KL. That's my only advise. You need two-way humidification device and , unfortunately, gel doesn't do so well in this case.


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## BadMrFrosty (Dec 29, 2010)

socalocmatt said:


> Probably too much depending on the size of your box... and you're in Florida. What size do you have? The beads are a two-way humidification method what will pull humidity down if it is too high and add humidity if it is too low. Get the beads, they're cheap and well worth it. Then you can toss the gel and sticks. If you dont want to get the beads: Are you using a PG solutions or just distilled water?


I ended up getting this box from Cuban Crafters. I can't post links yet so I'll post the outside dimensions.

*12 5/8" x 11 1/16" x 19 1/16"*

Where do I purchase these beads?



> Must be nice living in a warm humid climate.


Yeah its nice most of the year. But this winter has been a bit brutal. A few weeks ago we dropped into the 30's. Not fun.


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## Tman (Sep 12, 2010)

BadMrFrosty said:


> I ended up getting this box from Cuban Crafters. I can't post links yet so I'll post the outside dimensions.
> 
> *12 5/8" x 11 1/16" x 19 1/16"*
> 
> ...


Heartfelt Industries, Cigar Humidor Humidity Beads, Cigar, Hygrometers and Cigar Accessoriesstore

Make sure you have more than enough for your needs. Since these are two-way humidification, more means better. Lot of people go with minimal amount to save space in the humidor.

OR, you could just get a Kitty Litter (non-scented silica gel like ExquisiCat) and experiment. Basically the same stuff. There are lots of threads about this stuff and it is cheap.


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## BadMrFrosty (Dec 29, 2010)

Tman said:


> Make sure you have more than enough for your needs. Since these are two-way humidification, more means better. Lot of people go with minimal amount to save space in the humidor.
> 
> OR, you could just get a Kitty Litter (non-scented silica gel like ExquisiCat) and experiment. Basically the same stuff. There are lots of threads about this stuff and it is cheap.


Sweet!

Now my next question is, should I buy the large tubes? My box is a display type and all the shelves are separated by atleast 4 inches give or take. Once I buy these beads, do I remove the humidifiers that the box came with?


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## msblann1960 (Oct 21, 2010)

BadMrFrosty said:


> Sweet!
> 
> Now my next question is, should I buy the large tubes? My box is a display type and all the shelves are separated by atleast 4 inches give or take. Once I buy these beads, do I remove the humidifiers that the box came with?


Large tubes? IMHO...YES

Remove humidifiers? YES...use them as paper weights. 8)


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## loki993 (Sep 25, 2010)

Tman said:


> I'm guessing your room is warmer than downstairs? If that's the case, your RH% is lower in your room than downstairs. Any time you heat up an air without adding moisture, your RH% will go down. This is why it feels dry in the winter months.
> 
> In any case, it sounds like you don't have enough humidification device. Gel jars holds lots of water for its size. It may tide you over in the dry months if you want to keep using this humidor. Is your humidor like 7" x 12" x 6"? That would be equivalent of 100 count humidor.
> 
> If you are going with the gel, try adding at least two 2 oz. gel in there and see if it hold RH%. Consider switch to using KL or beads in the summer when RH% increases in your room.





Herf N Turf said:


> Ryan,
> 
> There are twelve roads to Rome. Choose and travel only one.
> 
> ...


The humi is normally in my room and it got taken down to the basement and got left there overnight, it was cold down there. Yes it warmer in my room, so that may have been why it crashed. I checked this morning and it seems good. the digital is showing normal, but the analog on the other side of the humi was still low. I switched them and we'll see. I'm thinking its just the hydrometer.

Its been cold for a while and it gets cold in my room too and it hasnt dropped before. I checked the seal on the humi when I got it and it was acceptable, it colied a sheet of paper pretty good.

I think the humi is like 12x6x8.5 or something like that, I measured it last night but don't remember the exact measurements, but those are pretty much it.

What I'm doing right now is basically a stopgap until I get something better. I'm gonna go with the beads. I thought what I had was ok and it has been for the most part, but as the collection grows and gets more expensive I have to be sure.

I like the tubes. So I think Im gonna get a 1/2 pound and an extra tube, plus use the tube I already have. Id almost like 3 tubes.

Those tubes they have on the heartfelt site should I go with those or is there a place I can get a better deal on them.

Also what's the best place to get a good hydrometer? There as well?

On the other hand I guess I could just use a bag, but I would think the tubes would take up less room. Funny I though this was a good sized humi when I got it, now its starting to fill up fast and I Know Ill eventually run out of room lol.

Does Heartfelt even have specials? Like a starter setup or something?



BadMrFrosty said:


> Yeah its nice most of the year. But this winter has been a bit brutal. A few weeks ago we dropped into the 30's. Not fun.


Man I lived in Florida for a while and 65 70 was cold, lol. I can't imagine what 30 must have been like. I know many of you wont believe that, but I don't know it must be the humidity down there, 65 was coat and sweater weather, its crazy. I didn't believe it either until it actually happened.


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## BadMrFrosty (Dec 29, 2010)

loki993 said:


> Man I lived in Florida for a while and 65 70 was cold, lol. I can't imagine what 30 must have been like. I know many of you wont believe that, but I don't know it must be the humidity down there, 65 was coat and sweater weather, its crazy. I didn't believe it either until it actually happened.


Your not kidding. The last two "winters" have been crazy. Easily in the 30's at times. My truck was covered in ice in the morning last week. It was weird.


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## Herf N Turf (Dec 31, 2008)

Ryan,

You're right about the tubes being the least impactful on space. The best way to determine how much you "need", is to use the bead calculator on the site and DOUBLE whatever it says. In an effort not to "gouge" us, Heartfelt calculates the bare bones minimum of what you need to maintain rH. Doubling aids in recovery from being opened and also hedges your bets against swings in ambient humidity (like when your HVAC kicks on).

The best place to get a "good" hyGrometer is the WeatherStore.com. When we say "good" this presupposes an NIST Certified Hygrometer. This is the only way to be certain that your reading of 65% actually _means _65%. All the other, el cheapo, units are made in China and have sensors the size of a pin point. They are rarely accurate and even if they're initially accurate, the go off within months.

Another way to go is to look around for an analog unit using either natural, or synthetic boars hair. These are also certified and as accurate as digital. I believe Adorini still uses these German made instruments and they look a lot classier than digital.


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## socalocmatt (Dec 22, 2010)

Herf N Turf said:


> Ryan,
> The best place to get a "good" hyGrometer is the WeatherStore.com.


theweatherstore.com
WeatherStore.com is one of those advertisement websites that doesnt sell anything. Tricky SOBs.


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## Herf N Turf (Dec 31, 2008)

Okay, to be more specific:

Here's a good quality, entry level certified unit.


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## Tman (Sep 12, 2010)

Some of the "cheapo" that are better than the other are:

Xikar
HygroSet I/HygroSet II
Caliber III -- heard good accuracy, but can not calibrate

I personally use HygroSet and haven't had too much problems with them. I do check calibration on them when I suspect a problem.


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## Tman (Sep 12, 2010)

loki993 said:


> What I'm doing right now is basically a stopgap until I get something better. I'm gonna go with the beads. I thought what I had was ok and it has been for the most part, but as the collection grows and gets more expensive I have to be sure.


This is a problem we know all too well. :doh: :lol:


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## loki993 (Sep 25, 2010)

Ok, so heres what Il looking at. 

1/2 lb of 65% beads
1 2 ounce tube and one 1 ounce tube. Plus I may even use the tube I already have, Ill take the sponge out. I think it may hold a half ounce maybe a little more. 

Or just go with 2 1 ounce tubes?

That should be more than enough right? Or would that be over doing it?


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## Cattani (Nov 22, 2010)

From what I understand about the HF beads is that you can't "over do" them. If it weren't for space issues, you could put a whole pound inside a 20 ct and the humidity would be where it should be (65 or 70, depending on beads you buy).

I just got my beads in the mail the other day and I'm just now getting some of those in. I currently have 3 of them...20 ct, 50 ct, 150 ct.


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## loki993 (Sep 25, 2010)

So an update, haven't had a chance to order the beads yet. Kinda spent a little too much on other things this pay period so I think I should wait until next Friday. 

I did test both of my Hydros though and found something interesting. I think they are reading different then they were before. 

The digital is now only about 3 high, when before it was like 10 or 13 IIRC.

Also the Analog, its a cheap one that probably came with a humi at some point not exactly known for accuracy in the first place, is WAyyyy off. That seems to be reading about 20 too low. I still have it in the bag and Ill check on it when I get home, but it been in there for over 48 hours now and its been reading 55 for about 27 of them, maybe more. I got it in a different bag with a different cap of salt just to be extra sure. 

Anyway that was the one that was giving me the trouble and I though I was having problems. I think when I first tested it it was only 10 low or something like that. 

So the digital was reading way high on one side of the humi and the analog was way low at the other side and I was like WTF?

So at this point my humidity is actually too high. Ill check the humi when I get home, but I have to find a way to pull humidity out of it. Ill just slowly pull devices until it comes down to a desirable humidity until I can get my beads next week. 

Its just before I was afraid of having my sticks possibly get too dry. Apparently its almost just as bad to have them too wet too.


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